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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
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F-35 Program Said to Be Picking Up ‘Momentum’

Building the F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft has been an odyssey for prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The program, which has had more twists and turns than a road crossing the Alps, might finally be on level ground.

The San Diego community can commiserate with Lockheed Martin because several area businesses make parts for the aircraft.

Northrop Grumman’s facility in Rancho Carmel makes avionics for the F-35, performing both engineering and final assembly.

Cobham PLC’s facility in Kearny Mesa — which used to be known as Remec — makes microwave electronics for the aircraft’s radar and self-protection systems. Cobham also produces composite materials for the F-35 engine at a San Diego plant.

Alliant Techsystems Inc., better known as ATK, produces ceramics for the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney engine at its San Diego facility in Kearny Mesa. ATK is based in Arlington, Va.

Plans for Thousands of F-35s

Lockheed Martin assembles the F-35 in Fort Worth, Texas, and reports that its 100th aircraft is going together. The big defense contractor plans to make thousands of F-35s, which may go to 11 countries and possibly more.

There are three versions of the F-35. An Air Force version is built for conventional runways. A Navy version has a stronger structure and a tailhook for carrier landings. And a Marine Corps version features STOVL — that’s short take off and vertical landing — capability. Special equipment makes it hover in the air like a Harrier jump jet.

The Marines have set up an F-35 squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

The people building the F-35 have faced both technical and cost issues.

Loren Thompson, a widely followed defense industry analyst with the Lexington Institute, recently recalled that the aircraft had a steady period of bad publicity — so bad, he said, “that the phrase ‘troubled F-35 program’ seemed like its official name.”

The outlook seems better now, he wrote in mid-July.

McCain ‘Unusually Positive’

Thompson noted that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had “unusually positive” things to say about the program. The analyst also wrote that Pentagon brass might go easy on the program in its budget cutting exercise known as sequestration.

Executives from Lockheed Martin put a positive face on the program during an investor conference call last week.

“You can feel the momentum accelerating throughout the program,” CEO Marillyn Hewson told analysts. “… We remain solidly on track to deliver at least 36 aircraft this year.”

Lockheed Martin executives said they expect the Pentagon to sign orders for the sixth and seventh low-rate initial production lots during the third quarter.

Some reports say that sequestration will barely touch the F-35. However, if the U.S. Defense Department slows its orders, Lockheed Martin has the option to produce aircraft for non-U.S. customers, company executives said during the call.

Nine partner countries are expected to get the aircraft. In addition to the United States, they are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The Pentagon also plans foreign military sales to Israel and Japan. South Korea might also be a buyer.

Northrop Grumman produces the integrated communication, navigation and identification electronics, or CNI, for the aircraft. The electronics provide voice, data, imagery, navigational aids and friend-or-foe identification, among other things. In all, the electronics perform 27 functions.

Pioneered Radio Technology

“We have pioneered software-defined radio technology for decades,” said Bob Gough, director of communication, navigation and identification programs and technology for Northrop Grumman Information Systems. “Our F-35 CNI program is an ongoing fulfillment of the commitment we made to integrated avionics when we established this business in San Diego in the 1980s.”

The electronics business wasn’t always called Northrop Grumman. It was originally part of TRW, which Northrop Grumman bought in 2002.

Today, 270 people at Northrop Grumman’s Rancho Carmel plant work on the program, according to a company spokeswoman.

The subcontractor could expect $4 billion to $5 billion in radio work over the life of the program, excluding foreign military sales, TRW announced when it won the contract in 2001.

Cobham is based in Wimborne Minster in southern England. In 2005, Cobham’s Chelton Microwave unit bought the defense and space unit of locally based Remec.

Today Cobham has about 1,000 employees at its San Diego defense electronics business and another 200 at its San Diego composites business. Employees at both build parts for the F-35.

The value of Cobham’s locally produced F-35 products was unavailable. Cobham units in other locations contribute to the F-35; a spokesman said the company has more than $1 million worth of content on every aircraft.

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